Volunteering is good for you

Our volunteers often tell us how rewarding their time with us is. You’ll be part of a compassionate community and feel a real sense of pride in what you do. You’ll meet new people, gain valuable experience, and develop your skills too. You will also receive instruction suitable for your role and supervision from a named member of staff.

As well as learning new skills, volunteers can benefit from:

• Increased experience in listening to and helping people.
• Working as part of a passionate team.
• Experience in the voluntary/social care sector.
• Increased confidence, skills, and experience for future employment .
• Motivation.
• Sense of achievement.
• Working with a diverse range of people.
• Sense of fulfilment.

We welcome volunteers from all backgrounds, cultures, and abilities, although we do ask that all our volunteers are over the age of 16, for safeguarding purposes. This is because you may come into contact with vulnerable adults during your time at Autism Together and we want to ensure the safety and security of both you and the people we support.

For those claiming benefits, volunteering will not affect the money you receive, and you can volunteer for as many hours as you like. You should, however, tell your benefits advisor that you are volunteering.

Volunteer Roles

Each role is different, and we can be as flexible as possible around your other commitments. Roles can take up a couple days a week, or just a few hours per month.

Examples of some of our roles include:

• Animal welfare
• Café work
• Shop work
• Painting
• General maintenance
• Delivery driving
• Gardening
• Horticulture
• Heritage
• Administration
• Event organisation / support

Expenses

Volunteers will receive out of pocket expenses, if requested, including travel and subsistence. This does not include the commute from the volunteer’s home to a regular place of volunteering.

Corporate Volunteers

At Autism Together we regularly work with businesses to offer their employees a chance to volunteer with us. We find that employees really enjoy spending a team building day away from the office, helping support the work of our charity.

Corporate volunteering is facilitated by our Fundraising Department, for more information please contact Lisa or Chloe at: Fundraising@autismtogether.co.uk.

We have a range of specific roles across various sites, on different days, but if you have specific skills and they are not listed within our volunteer roles, please let us know by emailing: VolunteerEnquiries@autismtogether.co.uk.

How to apply

The application process is relatively straightforward, and we hope we can have you volunteering within 4-6 weeks of your application.

There are 5 steps to complete in order to become a volunteer at Autism Together:

• Look through our latest volunteering opportunities and make your choice.
• Send in your application form to us.
• Attend an informal interview.
• Autism Together will then carry out reference checks, including a DBS. Different volunteer roles will require different checks and clearances.
• Begin the training and start volunteering with our charity.

Volunteers require a DBS check, but all costs would be covered by Autism Together

Any personal documents will be kept securely and will be destroyed 12 months after you finish volunteering with Autism Together.